A number of homes near the South Canterbury town of Twizel have been evacuated as a precaution because of a scrub fire threat in the area. The Fire Service was first alerted about 5.15pm on Sunday and soon afterwards the fire had spread to about 15 hectares. Andrew Norris of Fire Service southern communications says a number of homes in The Drive subdivision between Twizel and Lake Ruataniwha, about 160km west of Timaru, were under threat. "High winds were fanning the fire and police decided to evacuate some of the homes as a precaution," Mr Norris told NZ Newswire. "We concentrated our resources on stopping the fire getting to those homes and we seem to have stopped the spread, but the homes were still evacuated just in case." Though the fire had been contained to an area away from the homes, Mr Norris said it was still raging on other fronts. Two helicopters were working with two other appliances and five tankers to extinguish the blaze. About 30 firefighters were at the scene. Mr Norris said dry conditions and winds were causing problems in much of Canterbury, with firefighters also dealing with a forestry fire in Fairlie, South Canterbury, which required 25 firefighters and another rural fire near the North Canterbury town of Cheviot. It comes a day after two significant fires in Central Otago. One destroyed a honey production shed near Alexandra and another blazed through a three hectare area of vegetation near Tarras, about 30km southeast of Wanaka. Mr Norris said conditions were dry and people needed to act safely to prevent serious fires.
Twizel Wildfire
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/raw-video-fire-rages-near-twizel-6214465 - A video of the fire
A number of homes near the South Canterbury town of Twizel have been evacuated as a precaution because of a scrub fire threat in the area.
The Fire Service was first alerted about 5.15pm on Sunday and soon afterwards the fire had spread to about 15 hectares.
Andrew Norris of Fire Service southern communications says a number of homes in The Drive subdivision between Twizel and Lake Ruataniwha, about 160km west of Timaru, were under threat.
"High winds were fanning the fire and police decided to evacuate some of the homes as a precaution," Mr Norris told NZ Newswire.
"We concentrated our resources on stopping the fire getting to those homes and we seem to have stopped the spread, but the homes were still evacuated just in case."
Though the fire had been contained to an area away from the homes, Mr Norris said it was still raging on other fronts.
Two helicopters were working with two other appliances and five tankers to extinguish the blaze. About 30 firefighters were at the scene.
Mr Norris said dry conditions and winds were causing problems in much of Canterbury, with firefighters also dealing with a forestry fire in Fairlie, South Canterbury, which required 25 firefighters and another rural fire near the North Canterbury town of Cheviot.
It comes a day after two significant fires in Central Otago. One destroyed a honey production shed near Alexandra and another blazed through a three hectare area of vegetation near Tarras, about 30km southeast of Wanaka.
Mr Norris said conditions were dry and people needed to act safely to prevent serious fires.